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2013-05-17 17:01:33 (12 comments, 0 reshares, 50 +1s)

One can live at a low flame. Most people do. We're afraid to look foolish, or feel too extravagantly, or make a mistake, or risk unnecessary pain. One fears intensity. But, given something like death, what does it matter if one looks foolish now and then, or tries too hard, or cares too deeply? A shallow life creates a world flat as a shadow. In that half-light, the sun never burns, risks recede, safety becomes habit, and individuals have little to teach other.

- Diane Ackerman

2013-05-16 17:14:19 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 36 +1s)

The more you talk about It,
the more you think about It,
the further from It you go.
Stop talking, stop thinking,
and there is nothing you will not understand . . .

- Sengstan

2013-05-16 00:02:12 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 47 +1s)

Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones; and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in peace.

- Victor Hugo

2013-05-12 13:21:04 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 54 +1s)

Happy Mother's Day!  


Ideal teachers are those who use themselves as bridges over which they invite their students to cross, then having facilitated their crossing, joyfully collapse, encouraging them to create bridges of their own. 

- Nikos Kazantzakis

2013-05-11 19:39:02 (4 comments, 1 reshares, 39 +1s)

Once Upon a Time . . . 
2013

2013-05-09 14:09:48 (9 comments, 0 reshares, 34 +1s)

The Portfolio

2013-05-08 17:06:31 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 33 +1s)

“We accept the love we think we deserve.”

Dang, if that quote is not a shovel made to dig up every past relationship we’ve ever had, then I don’t know what is. Stephen Chbosky, you are an absolute BOSS for coming up with that pretty little ditty and leading an entire generation of readers to scavenge through their beings for worthiness and love. 

Without any real prompting, I started searching the curves of my heart for every incident, every relationship gone wrong and weary, every kiss stolen, every heart given back in shambles to understand the truth in this quote.

We accept the love we think we deserve. We accept the love we think we deserve.

It must explain why so many of us are in broken relationships. Why we cannot walk away. Why we settle for less and just learn to be thankful that it is anything at all. Why we shirk away from compliments. Why wecling to... more »

2013-05-08 15:26:28 (10 comments, 0 reshares, 54 +1s)

All Things with Great Love . . . 

We are all so blessed to have found each other here . . . though my visits are few and far between these days, I cherish the G+ friends that have graced my life and touched my heart . . . 

+Gene Bowker, my dear friend, I wish you the sweetest of days today.   I hope you can feel this G+ outpouring of Love in your heart and soul . . .   You have touched so many lives . . .   

For your love and support, your thoughtfulness, your kindness, your generosity, your gentle coaching, your art, your friendship . . . I am profoundly grateful.    

Happy Birthday, my friend!
#happybdaygene 

2013-05-03 16:56:37 (7 comments, 0 reshares, 41 +1s)

I wrote the piece below some time ago, and I find it relevant today for me . . . so I thought perhaps it may be valuable to others in some way today too . . . 


August 2011

Life Lessons From My Beautiful Daughter

My daughter is a sensitive little girl.  With first grade looming, we’re on heightened sensitivity alert.  My gentle attempts to build her enthusiasm and prepare her for re-entry seem to be working – excitement is building, she’s asking insightful questions, she’s actively engaged in the preparation process – but she is also clearly feeling the effects of the stress and anxiety that come with anticipated change.   After all, she is only human, and she is only 5 years old. 

For the record, I think (I hope) I’m a wonderful mother.   I’m an enlightened, low-pressure, attachment parenting, giggle-loving mom trying to nurture theirminds, their bodies... more »

2013-05-03 12:31:10 (8 comments, 0 reshares, 46 +1s)

Listening is giving the other person the experience of being heard.
- Bix Bickson

http://www.daniellelaporte.com/inspiration-spirituality-articles/listening-is-giving-the-other-person-the-experience-of-being-heard/

2013-05-03 02:20:45 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 32 +1s)

I ache for shared silence, not the awkward lulls in conversation where we reach for something - anything - to cover the tension of trying to be with too much of the other and too little of ourselves, but the moments of fullness that let each of us unfold and know who we really are. 

I long for silences with another where there is nothing to forgive or explain or justify, where we agree to abandon quickly spoken words for a time so we do not abandon ourselves or each other, the silences where no one asks me to choose between belonging to myself and being with the world.

And when these silences come, I feel how I am working my way home through whatever they hold - terror or tenderness, grief or celebration - spiraling
ever-closer to a sweetness I have ached for all my life.

~   Oriah Mountain Dreamer from The Dance

2013-05-01 21:23:23 (8 comments, 0 reshares, 67 +1s)

The Guest House 

This being human is a guest house. 
Every morning a new arrival. 

A joy, a depression, a meanness, 
some momentary awareness comes 
as an unexpected visitor. 

Welcome and entertain them all! 
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows, 
who violently sweep your house 
empty of its furniture, 
still, treat each guest honorably. 
He may be clearing you out 
for some new delight. 

The dark thought, the shame, the malice, 
meet them at the door laughing, 
and invite them in. 

Be grateful for whoever comes, 
because each has been sent 
as a guide from beyond.

~ Rumi 

2013-05-01 13:24:22 (2 comments, 1 reshares, 41 +1s)

Loosening The Clenched Fist
by Oriah Mountain Dreamer

It's been a challenging week around tending my parents' needs (both have Alzheimer's) but it made me remember this little trick I sometimes use when I recognize that I am worrying. Sometimes just noticing is not enough to stop the cycle of obsessing about possible worst-case scenarios. 

Mostly the "trick" is just a way to help me loosen the mind's death-grip on the certainty that disaster is bound to ensue and, on a less conscious level, the unfounded and erroneous belief that bad things can be averted by ceasely reviewing, anticipating and worrying about things we cannot control. The worrying mind is like a clenched fist wrapped around some preoccupation. The "trick" is to get the fist to unclench.

When my sons were young we lived on very little income, and I often found myselfw... more »

2013-04-29 17:11:59 (10 comments, 1 reshares, 54 +1s)

Hug and kiss whoever helped get you - financially, mentally, morally, emotionally - to this day. Parents, mentors, friends, teachers. If you're too uptight to do that, at least do the old handshake thing, but I recommend a hug and a kiss. Don't let the sun go down without saying thank you to someone, and without admitting to yourself that absolutely no one gets this far alone.

— Stephen King

2013-04-23 17:41:22 (7 comments, 0 reshares, 43 +1s)

On Reason and Passion
Kahlil Gibran

Your soul is oftentimes a battlefield, upon which your reason and your judgment wage war against your passion and your appetite.
Would that I could be the peacemaker in your soul, that I might turn the discord and the rivalry of your elements into oneness and melody.
But how shall I, unless you yourselves be also the peacemakers, nay, the lovers of all your elements?

Your reason and your passion are the rudder and the sails of your seafaring soul. 
If either your sails or your rudder be broken, you can but toss and drift, or else be held at a standstill in mid-seas.
For reason, ruling alone, is a force confining; and passion, unattended, is a flame that burns to its own destruction.
Therefore let your soul exalt your reason to the height of passion, that it may sing;
And let it direct your passion with reason, that... more »

2013-04-10 00:01:26 (3 comments, 1 reshares, 62 +1s)

For David.
by  To Write Love On Her Arms.
https://www.facebook.com/towriteloveonherarms/info
https://www.facebook.com/notes/to-write-love-on-her-arms/for-david/444276064657

i sort of hit a wall last week. It’s the feeling that while the story I get invited to tell is impressive to some, the story that i actually live is not. i feel lately like i live a story about a guy who rides on airplanes and in rental cars and hopes the pillow is comfortable in the hotel room. The smiling irony in the whole thing is that I get invited to tell people about community but then that turns out to be something I don’t really have in my own life. i have access to it but community is something you have to choose.
 
So last week i started to feel the weight of too many airports and too much time away from home. But i was already committed to going to an event. In fairness, this eventwas a... more »

2013-04-04 17:36:42 (11 comments, 0 reshares, 49 +1s)

Expect to have hope rekindled.

Expect your prayers to be answered in wondrous ways. 

The dry seasons in life do not last.

The spring rains will come again.

- Sarah Ban Breathnach

2013-04-02 15:10:01 (8 comments, 0 reshares, 45 +1s)

How strange that the nature of life is change, yet the nature of human beings is to resist change. And how ironic that the difficult times we fear might ruin us are the very ones that can break us open and help us blossom into who we were meant to be.

— Elizabeth Lesser 

2013-03-21 13:44:27 (14 comments, 0 reshares, 52 +1s)

The moment we begin to fear the opinions of others and hesitate to tell the truth that is in us, and from motives of policy are silent when we should speak, the divine floods of light and life no longer flow into our souls.

― Elizabeth Cady Stanton

2013-03-20 02:50:26 (7 comments, 0 reshares, 72 +1s)

Do not be afraid, dear one. You can trust your bliss. That is why it was delivered to you in the first place. You can trust the finely tuned crosshairs of your dream because it knows exactly where to go and what to do. And it will inform you as you go. Your only job is to receive.

- Suzanne Falter-Barns

2013-03-13 00:24:33 (10 comments, 0 reshares, 57 +1s)

all of life is about feeding yourself, with love and art and people and books and music and acts of kindness. we are nourished by the lives we build, layer by layer of detail and experience, pain and mistakes. these things have to be our own. there is no way to copy it or will it or wish it into being. revelations are all around us. sometimes they take great loss to reveal themselves.

- Amy Grace

2013-03-01 13:15:33 (4 comments, 2 reshares, 64 +1s)

Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.

- Henry David Thoreau

2013-04-10 00:12:57 (8 comments, 1 reshares, 57 +1s)

A Course in Miracles asks, “Would you rather be right or happy?” 

Clearly, the loving response is to choose happiness over the ego’s need to be right— but happiness can be hard to achieve when you believe you’ve been deeply wronged. 

A lack of forgiveness hurts us in nasty ways. When the ego blocks us from forgiving, we inevitably take on certain fearful archetypes. Here are some of the personality traits we pick up from the ego’s unforgiving ways. 

The Daily Victim: When we’re unwilling to forgive, we wake up each day feeling like a victim. We hold tight to our past hurt and resentment, replaying it in our mind over and over again. This automatic replay reinforces the ego’s illusion and strengthens our perception of being the victim. Eventually we identify so closely with the role of victim that we begin to establish that dynamic in all ourrelationships. ... more »

2013-02-08 07:09:32 (13 comments, 1 reshares, 70 +1s)

There is only you and your camera. The limitations in your photography are in yourself, for what we see is what we are.

- ernst haas

2013-02-07 16:40:15 (6 comments, 0 reshares, 50 +1s)

You cannot save people. 
You can only love them.

- Anaïs Nin

2013-02-03 02:53:20 (6 comments, 1 reshares, 46 +1s)

At various times in our lives, we struggle with loneliness, relationships, finding our voice, illness, loss, trying to leave the past behind . . . .

(Here’s a hint: Maybe you should try to Embrace your past.  And Forgive Yourself in the process.)

We all want to be Better, Faster, Stronger.  We are all striving to succeed.  We all experience failure.  

We have hopes, fears, goals and dreams – both on the surface and buried deep within us waiting to be unearthed.  We are all searching – for love, friendship, understanding and respect.  For Answers.

We are complex creatures.   In the same moment, we can feel happy, sad, angry, frustrated, exhilarated and empowered.   Though it may sometimes feel like it – we aren’t Crazy, we are Simply Human.

The key is tapping in to our Humanity.  Opening our eyes to what we have in common.
Recognize and ac... more »

2013-01-29 19:36:04 (11 comments, 0 reshares, 53 +1s)

What we strive for
in perfection
is not what turns us
into the lit angel
we desire
what disturbs
and then nourishes
has everything
we need.
—David Whyte

2013-01-14 16:26:10 (14 comments, 3 reshares, 90 +1s)

You are goodness and mercy and compassion and understanding. You are peace and joy and light. You are forgiveness and patience, strength and courage, a helper in time of need, a comforter in time of sorrow, a healer in time of injury, a teacher in times of confusion. You are the deepest wisdom and the highest truth; the greatest peace and the grandest love. You are these things. And in moments of your life you have known yourself to be these things. Choose now to know yourself as these things always.

~  Neale Donald Walsh 

2013-01-14 11:00:30 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 26 +1s)

Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy
2012

http://youtu.be/8At8zfh_o3E


Because dreams tend to be so precious and potent, many people keep their dreams to themselves. A dream is a sacred thing to share, and doing so melts boundaries and calls forth commonalities and resources of all kinds. When you know someone’s dream you look at that person differently— with more tenderness, respect, familiarity, sympathy, and generosity than before. 

Look at everyone you meet this week and actively think to yourself, “I wonder what their dreams are?” Ask at least one person what his dream is. You can do it subtly, like, “Where do you see yourself in five years?” or “What did you want to be when you were growing up?” Or you can just go direct: “So, like, what’s your big dream?” So many people never get asked that. Even fewer are really listened to when theyanswer. 

Th... more »

2013-01-13 23:30:20 (5 comments, 2 reshares, 47 +1s)

I have had the great fortune of being chosen to participate in the Summer Session of the +G+ Mentorship Program for Photographers with +Robin Griggs Wood.  The last nine weeks have been a great journey of self discovery and practical application of artistic principles.  I thought I would share my recent post to the class, as it applies to all of us.  

Enjoy the day and all that it brings, my friends!


PLUS Post
Week 8

I spend a good deal of time late at night cruising through the G+ stream and watching photography videos . . . lighting . . . portraiture . . . film work . . . feeding my brain after long days coaching and cuddling two little people.   It's bliss, this soaking in of information, this eye candy, swimming in this deep pool of inspiration.   I have said to those who know me best that it is my goal to produce work that stopspeople ... more »

2013-01-12 03:06:11 (6 comments, 0 reshares, 55 +1s)

Yep.
2012

2013-01-08 18:13:31 (8 comments, 0 reshares, 59 +1s)

Do not pray for easy lives.
Pray to be stronger men.
Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers.
Pray for powers equal to your tasks.
Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be the miracle.

— Phillips Brooks

2013-01-01 17:23:06 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 47 +1s)

Emotional discomfort, when accepted, rises, crests and falls in a series of waves. Each wave washes a part of us away and deposits treasures we never imagined. 

Out goes naivete, in comes wisdom; out goes anger, in comes discernment; out goes despair, in comes kindness. 

No one would call it easy, but the rhythm of emotional pain that we learn to tolerate is natural, constructive and expansive . . . 

The pain leaves you healthier than it found you.

― Martha Beck

2012-12-31 15:23:03 (9 comments, 1 reshares, 53 +1s)

Do your little bit of good where you are; it's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.
- Desmond Tutu

2012-12-20 19:44:09 (12 comments, 1 reshares, 51 +1s)

Long March
2012

2012-12-19 13:19:14 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 73 +1s)

Over and over, we are broken on the shore of life. Our stubborn egos are knocked around, and our frightened hearts are broken open — not once, and not in predictable patterns, but in surprising ways and for as long as we live. The promise of being broken and the possibility of being opened are written into the contract of human life. Certainly this tumultuous journey on the waves can be tiresome. When the sea is rough, and when we are suffering, we may want to give up hope and give in to despair. But brave pilgrims have gone before us. They tell us to venture forth with faith and vision. Rumi speaks for them all when he says:

Drum sounds rise on the air, 
and with them, my heart.
A voice inside the beat says, 
I know you are tired, 
but come.
This is the way.

May you listen to the voice within the beat even when you are tired. When you feel yourselfbrea... more »

2012-12-05 04:32:04 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 49 +1s)

We can't help but wonder how much difference one person makes in the world. We look inside ourselves, questioning if we have the capacity for heroism and greatness. 

But the truth is, every time we take an action, we make an impact. Every single thing we do has an effect on the people around us. Every choice we make sends ripples out into the world. Our smallest acts of kindness can cause a chain reaction of unforeseen benefits for people we've never met. 

We might not witness those results, but they happen all
the same.

- Jake Bohm, Touch, The Road Not Taken

2012-11-28 18:09:55 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 47 +1s)

But hope is no less realistic than despair.
It is still our choice whether to live in light or lie down in darkness.
― Rick Yancey

2012-11-26 18:47:30 (7 comments, 0 reshares, 50 +1s)

Let's Dance . . . 

I haven't had much time to shoot recreationally lately . . . for some reason, this oldie has been swimming around in my head for days . . . so I thought I would share . . . 

Hope this finds you all well, my dear friends . . . Miss you . . .

2012-11-25 23:51:02 (7 comments, 0 reshares, 43 +1s)

Structural Enhancements
2012

2012-11-20 12:36:23 (10 comments, 0 reshares, 28 +1s)

Life in the big city . . . 

Enjoy the day and all that it brings your way, my friends . . . 

xoxoxo

2012-11-17 13:21:27 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 49 +1s)

Good Morning, Dear Friends . . . 

Peace, Love, Laughter to you and yours today . . . 


For what is it to die,
But to stand in the sun and melt into the wind?
And when the Earth has claimed our limbs,
Then we shall truly dance.

― Kahlil Gibran

2012-11-16 19:44:20 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 42 +1s)

Falling In
2012


Autobiography in 5 Short Chapters 
by Portia Nelson

I

I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in.
I am lost. I am helpless.
It isn’t my fault.
It takes me forever to find a way out.

II

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don’t see it.
I fall in again.
I can’t believe I am in the same place.
But it isn’t my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.

III

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in; it’s a habit.
My eyes are open.
I know where I am.
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.

IV

I walk down the same street.
There is adeep hole ... more »

2012-11-15 11:33:41 (9 comments, 0 reshares, 63 +1s)

Good Morning, My Friends . . .

Peace, love and joy to you this fine day . . . . . 

 You can only know as much happiness and joy as you can know vulnerability.
- Kahlil Gibran

Mark Isham - My Wife With Champagne Shoulders

2012-11-09 21:17:15 (3 comments, 2 reshares, 43 +1s)

In your light I learn how to love.
In your beauty, how to make poems.

You dance inside my chest,
where no one sees you,

but sometimes I do,
and that sight becomes this art.

—  Rumi

2012-11-09 14:49:17 (7 comments, 0 reshares, 36 +1s)

2am @ the grill
2012

2012-11-08 15:41:51 (5 comments, 1 reshares, 41 +1s)

Admit something:
Everyone you see, you say to them, love me.
Of course you do not do this out loud,
Otherwise someone would call the cops.
Still, though, think about this,
This great pull in us to connect,
Why not become the one who lives with a full moon
In each eye that is always saying
With that sweet moon language
What every other eye in this world
is dying to hear. 

-   Hafiz

2012-11-06 03:36:35 (11 comments, 0 reshares, 53 +1s)

Sweet Dreams . . . 

Good Night, My Friends . . . 

Mark Isham - In a Silent Way (Milestones)

2012-11-02 10:41:52 (14 comments, 0 reshares, 63 +1s)

A little touch of Summer warmth today . . . 

May your day be filled with Love & Laughter . . . 

2012-10-29 20:09:42 (7 comments, 0 reshares, 58 +1s)

One last shot (an old fave that hit my radar again this week) before I log off today . . . the lights are flickering, and it's only a matter of time before they konk for good . . . See you on the flip side of Sandy . . . 

May your day be filled with Love and Laughter . . . . . .